National report

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- Owners of exotic animals in Connecticut have been given a day of amnesty to turn in their illegally-owned pets.

The state Department of Environmental Protection's hosted its first exotic amnesty day Saturday at the Bridgeport Zoo.

Deputy Commissioner Susan Frechette said owners turned over at least 135 animals, most of them exotic reptiles. The collection included 15 boa constrictors, 15 pythons, 7 alligators, a small monkey, a rattlesnake and an anaconda.

Officials asked about the animals' diets, medical history and temperament but didn't ask the owners their names.

The event comes five months after a privately owned chimpanzee escaped from his home and mauled a Stamford woman.

BARBERTON, Ohio -- A developer has found new life for an old church in northeast Ohio by redesigning it as a workout center.

Developer and bodybuilder Al Horvath converted a Methodist church in Barberton into a training facility he calls Faith Gym.

Horvath kept the church's original 1892 stained-glass windows and added murals depicting such biblical characters as David and Goliath and Samson and Delilah.

He created a Superman theme for the church's sanctuary and replaced the pews with rows of workout equipment. He donated the pews to a Kentucky church gutted by fire.

Horvath bought the building in 2005 after the former Moore Memorial United Methodist Church merged with another Methodist church and moved out. He says he's targeting people just beginning exercise programs and experienced athletes accustomed to strenuous workouts.

Day care center that lost 4 kids ordered shut

PITTSBURGH -- Pennsylvania welfare officials have ordered the closure of a day care center after four toddlers wandered 200 yards away from it and were found by truck drivers along a busy road.

The Department of Public Welfare on Thursday accused the Walnut Grove Christian Day Care in suburban Pittsburgh of "gross incompetence, negligence and misconduct."

Department spokeswoman Stacey Witalec says the children were 3 or younger and walked the equivalent of two football fields away Tuesday. Two passing truckers saw the children and took them back to the center in West Mifflin.

Investigators say a door at the center had been propped open for ventilation and there wasn't enough staff to watch all the children.